8/28/02
Washington's elephant wars
A court victory by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to include a crying circus elephant in a Washington street-art program has led to an unusual attack on the animal-rights group. When PETA unveils its elephant, probably near Dupont Circle, this week, look for anti-PETA group Center for Consumer Freedom to display its own designs of the "PETA Hypocrisy Elephant." Spokesman Mike Burita tells Whispers that the group has established a design contest featuring four sample ideas that "capture PETA's essence: hypocrisy, deceit, malice and even violence." The four, seen on the group's Web site, draw attention to controversial PETA positions, such as refusing to allow animal testing for medical breakthroughs and support for a "domestic terrorist" group that set fire to the Vail Ski Resort in 1998. That elephant is displayed wearing a mask and carrying a large match in its trunk. Burita's effort follows a court decision this week to let PETA display a circus elephant in shackles. PETA fought Washington's Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which has put over 200 decorated donkeys and elephants, symbols of the Democratic and Republican parties, around the city. The arts group says the figures are meant to boost tourism and promote public art, not make a political statement.
See the anti-PETA elephants here:
http://www.consumerfreedom.com/peta_elephant.cfm
See PETA's elephant here:
http://www.circuses.com/images/blissfinaldc.jpg
8/27/02
Not just because she's a she
The White House has a message for the two men angling to win the No. 4 House leadership position opened up by the retirement of House Conference Chair J.C. Watts: Give it up. Top Republican sources say that's because their choice is Rep. Deborah Pryce, a five-term Republican from Ohio. We hear that she's gotten the nod from Rep. Tom DeLay, the House Whip slated to become majority leader, and has the "silent blessings" of the Bush White House. And it's not just because the GOP wants a woman in the leadership post. Insiders say she's up to the job. She apparently knows it: Word is that Pryce, though still trying to best two white guys, Reps. J.D. Hayworth of Arizona and Jim Ryun of Kansas, is already looking to assemble a new conference staff. The conference post, considered the top communications job in the House GOP, is fourth in line behind the speaker, majority leader, and whip.
8/26/02
Is Pryor repeating Gore's mistake?
Reports that Arkansas Senate candidate Mark Pryor wants to distance himself from local-boy-made-good Bill Clinton have Clintonites spitting bullets. Their complaint: Without Clinton's support and avid fundraising for the Democrat, Pryor would be far behind in his race to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Tim Hutchinson, not just 3 points behind in a recent poll. Reports from Arkansas say he's skipping today's Clinton event in West Memphis supposedly to prepare for a debate with Hutchinson. Pryor, who was the chairman of Al Gore's presidential campaign in Arkansas, should have learned from Gore that distancing oneself from Clinton in Arkansas is lethal, the Clinton loyalists tell our Suzi Parker. Gore, of course, lost Arkansas.
Mark Pryor's campaign site: http://www.pryor2002.com/
Tim Hutchinson's site: http://www.tim2002.com/
8/15/02
Bhutto's power games
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has a new strategy in her bid to challenge Pakistan's military government in upcoming elections: Pressure the United States to quietly help her. Her party is running in the October parliamentary elections and is leading in some internal government polls. But if she returns from self-exile, she faces arrest after having been convicted, in absentia, of corruption last month in a trial she calls politically motivated.
Now she wants Washington to lean on Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf to keep the election fair and let her run. This all puts the United States in a dicey spot. Given Washington's rhetoric about democracy in neighboring Afghanistan and that Musharraf took power in a military coup, it will be hard pressed to ignore her demands. But Musharraf, who is expected to remain president for some time, has been a key ally in the war on terrorism, and nobody wants to jeopardize his cooperation. Bhutto hopes to force Washington to make a choice early.
Her supporters say that if she becomes prime minister, her level of support for the U.S. war on terrorism will depend in part on how much help she gets now. She is also preparing to take her struggle public, starting with a meeting tomorrow (August 16) in London with human-rights groups to line up a campaign to protest her likely arrest. She plans to return to Pakistan next month aboard a U.S. commercial airliner in one more attempt to draw America into the fray. –Kevin Whitelaw
8/9/02
Clinton museum via Graceland
Bill Clinton's folks are trying to get the ex-prez to visit Graceland when he returns to Arkansas and Memphis for a series of fundraisers later this month. Clinton has often been compared to "the King," and his future presidential library in Little Rock will have an exhibit dedicated to all the Elvis memorabilia he has collected. But, reports our Suzi Parker, there's another reason Clinton may be going to Graceland. The Clinton Foundation wants to establish a relationship between Graceland and the library in efforts to lure Memphis tourists to Little Rock when the library opens.
• See Graceland:
http://www.elvis.com/graceland/vtour/gracecam.asp.
• Visit the National Archive's Clinton site:
http://clinton.archives.gov/welcome/welcome.html.
• Clinton's site:
http://www.clintonpresidentialcenter.com/contact.html
8/7/02
Lott says put up or shut up
Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott is eager for Republican candidates to step up their attacks on Democrats who whine about the economy but offer no solutions. In a memo to Republicans and provided to Washington Whispers, he says, "It is frustrating when the Senate Democratic leadership refuses to work with us in a bipartisan way to help our country create more jobs and help American families keep more of what they earn. It seems that the Senate Democratic leadership feels it is more important to point fingers." Aides say that the message is targeted to GOP campaigners, especially those in debates where it's expected that the Democratic challenger will hit President Bush's handling of the economy. In general, the advice is this: Ask the challenger his idea for bolstering the economy and ask if he supports the Democratic bid to repeal the Bush tax cut.
• Read the Lott memo
8/6/02
Fort Knox: Send Reinforcements!
Seems like every law enforcement agency in town is complaining they've lost staff to the new Transportation Security Administration, which is paying high wages to low-salaried federal cops interested in being air marshals. Now it's the Mint's turn: The U.S. Mint Police, in charge of guarding the nation's loot, has lost 47 of its 300 officers to TSA in the past few months. Among the facilities now short staffed: Fort Knox, home to hoards of the government's gold.
8/2/02
Sniffing out corporate corruption
Hallibacon, the corporate crime-fighting pig, is the brainchild of the Iowa Democratic Party as part of the national party's effort to attack Vice President Dick Cheney's prior life as CEO of troubled Halliburton.
• Read the related press release.
8/1/02
Flack swapping for the Clintons
The former White House scandal spokesman extraordinaire, Jim Kennedy, most recently Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's flack, is going back to work for the big guy, Bill Clinton. Starting Monday, he'll be in Clinton's Harlem office speaking for the ex-prez. He replaces spokeswoman Julia Payne, who's taking some time off to hit the North Carolina beaches and consider other political jobs. She has been wooed by several campaigns such as the Jimmie Lou Fisher gubernatorial organization in Clinton's native Arkansas. Kennedy's shift–made official on Thursday–returns him closer to his native Connecticut, where he once served as Sen. Joe Lieberman's spokesman. Earlier Thursday, Kennedy told Whispers: "I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work for Senator Clinton on many issues important to New York and America, including economic development, health, and environmental protection, and the rebuilding of NYC after September 11. And I'm honored to be assisting President Clinton and his work on economic empowerment, racial, ethnic, and religious reconciliation, combating AIDS, and providing educational assistance to those affected by September 11. I'll miss D.C., but my family and I love New York."
• Read the Clinton statement on Kennedy and Payne here.
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